HEAVY LITTLE OBJECTS

#13 :: Photo-Theremin

This extraordinary electronic musical instrument/noisebox handmade by Professor Television measures about 3x3½x8 inches. I've always been fascinated by the mystical hand-waving gestures of theremin players, and the spacy/spooky music they make tweaks something deep in my inner child's lizard brain: this ... is ... cooool it murmurs, in something of a "redrum" voice. You play it by passing your hand over the photo cell, which determines how much light reaches the circuit. The more light, the higher the pitch, and it goes from near-inaudible hiss to thundering bass rumble, particularly when plugged into a good sound system. It has metal toggle switches for power and waveform, and thick black pot knobs for volume, rate, lfo and pitch, a PURPLE LED that oscillates in time with the waveform and little rubber feet. The whole thing runs on a D battery, and makes fantastic sounds through a built-in speaker. I've only just begun playing with it. Samples (Quicktime):

• accelerating.mov
  
• computing.mov
  
• downtobass.mov